Flexible teams take ideas to readiness for serial production
Here as in all Business Areas at Körber, successful innovation is based on the group-wide company values: Customer Satisfaction, Innovation, Connecting People and Knowledge, Responsibility, and Focus on the Future.
Numerous innovations from this Business Area are reflected in its offerings. In addition to the traditionally innovative machines and equipment for the production of cigarettes and filters, the portfolio increasingly includes solutions for the manufacture of completely new types of products. Examples include tobacco heating products, which heat up tobacco without burning it up, and products related to smart vaping — that is, solutions for e-cigarettes.
The development activities related to new technologies for e-cigarettes were brought together in the Vaping Technologies unit in October 2017. Software experts, electronics developers, engineers, patent managers, and many others are active in the team. All of these special areas of expertise were combined into a kind of internal start-up. The team utilizes agile working methods and the scrum approach to project management. The engineers also use innovative production methods such as 3-D printing.
The goal is to launch new products on the market quickly and flexibly, from the initial idea to readiness for serial production. For example, the Vaping Technologies team aims to work together with customers to refine a new evaporator technology into individualized end products and launch it on the market. This solution would avoid the potential risk of overheating and thus prevent the associated pollutant emissions of existing products.
